A Long, Hard Road
by Avatar Kyoshi
Summary: "She can bend air," Toph said, Zuko nodded, "We have to tell twinkle toes," she gave Zuko his shirt. "She knows who I am and she invited us to get a drink with her," Zuko told Toph. "I dunno..." Toph said. "It can't hurt, we're both master benders." But can it? This girl has a past, one which she needs help with, can Zuko be the one to help? This is going to be a long, hard road.
1. Chapter 1

_**AN:**_** Hi guys! If you've got this far hooray! Because that means you've got a possibility of actually liking this story! Please, do review, because it will make my and your life easier, as I will be FORCED to update. xD I'm not counting on it being an absolute winner, but I do have my hopes and dreams… now, ENJOY! **

_Chapter 1: Meeting someone new._

It had been three years since the end of the war and Katara (17), Aang (16), Sokka (18), Toph (16) and Zuko (20) were all sitting on top of Appa. They were flying over the earth kingdom, to go to Ba Sing Se to visit Uncle Iroh; as his tea shop was still thriving. They weren't that high in the air, due to Appa being tired from flying all the way from the Fire Nation.

"You wanna' stop, buddy?" Aang asked Appa, Appa let out a groan and descended even more, "I'll take that as a yes." Aang said then turned back to his friends and girlfriend. "Appa needs a break guys," he said, everyone nodded in understanding. Appa landed just outside a small town that was bustling with a market.

"We could get some supplies while we're here?" Sokka said,

"Yeah, let's do that," Katara said getting the money out. She handed some to every person. "Only get what you need." she said giving Aang a look.

"What?" he said "The bison whistle was useful." Katara shook her head at her boyfriend.

"Just get the supplies," she said. Aang pouted at her and when she didn't react he huffed.

"Fine," he said and walked off.

"He's still going to buy something," Toph said, "He was lying." she added.

"Great," Katara sighed.

"Back here in an hour," Sokka said before walking off as well, probably towards the meat.

"You can come with me Toph," Zuko said.

"Sure thing Sparky," Toph said and the two of them walked off.

* * *

Sokka had gone off to look at meat (What did I tell you), Aang went off just looking around and Katara was getting the proper supplies. Toph had dragged Zuko halfway across town saying there was a fight on and she wanted to compete.

"Toph are you sure that's smart?" Zuko asked, Toph grinned.

"Sure, I'm the best earth-bender in the world no one can beat me," she replied and carried on pulling him with her. She stopped suddenly and looked at the wall dead ahead of them. "We're here." she said. She bended the wall out of the way and pulled Zuko through, on the other side of the wall it was an arena with noisy and rowdy people watching it. It had a small bar that was empty apart from the bar tender and one costumer.

"Who wishes to compete?" A man asked, who was standing by the side of the entrance and before Zuko could say anything Toph had piped up.

"Both of us," she said, Zuko put a hand to his head.

"What are you doing?" he whispered heatedly.

"We can see if there's any competition," she whispered back. Zuko looked around and his eyes caught a girl that looked about nineteen sitting on the bar stool, she looked to be wearing southern water tribe colours, she had a pair of black leggings on with a dark blue skirt that stopped just above her knees which had a slit down each side that came up to mid-thigh, she look as if she was wearing a fire nation top that showed her stomach (Like Katara's one was) except it was in a light blue with white lining it. She wore dark blue flats with the outfit. She was slim, medium build. She looked to be about 5"7; Zuko himself was 6"1. She had a soft oval shaped face with soft pink lips, a small nose and high cheek bones. Her hair was a light honey colour brown with darker streaks going through it, she had the front parts tied up at the back of her head, then put the rest in a lose pony tail. Zuko couldn't see her eyes as she was looking at her drink which was sitting in front of her with a small frown on her pink lips.

"Whoa, Sparky why the heck has your head rate increased?" Toph asked giving him a punch in the arm.

"Nothing," Zuko told her. He couldn't help but think he had seen her some place before, a distant memory maybe.

"Sure…" she said slowly, she was not believing him one bit. "You spar the champion in about two minutes." she said.

"What? Why me?" Zuko groaned.

"Because that's how it's going to work now, get ready," Zuko sighed but didn't say anything, he took of his top and gave it to Toph, who glared at him.

"Why do I have to hold it?" she asked.

"Because that's how it's going to work," Zuko said back with a grin. Toph huffed. Just then one of the arena managers came over.

"You ready?" he asked, Zuko just nodded. The guy took Zuko down to the arena and shut him in. Zuko stood waiting for his opponent with his head bowed and arms behind his back; he only had his trousers and boots on.

"Girl where are you?" One of them men shouted.

"I'm coming, honestly," A girl's voice said. Zuko heard footsteps then a gate shut, he looked up slightly. And to his surprise, amazement and shock, there was the girl from the bar standing in front of him. She took a stance that Zuko recognised as a water-bending stance.

"You're a water-bender then?" Zuko said the girl looked at him. Zuko finally got to see her eyes; they were a bright green, with determination in them.

"Maybe," she said giving him a killer smile. "Did you know I've never been beaten?" she asked.

"No," Zuko said taking his stance.

"Quit chatting girl, get on with it," someone shouted. The girl made the mistake of looking at the crowd; Zuko shot a fire ball at her. She turned her head and did a couple of flips back before it hit her, she did a quick water-bending move and the flame disappeared.

"You _are_ a water-bender," Zuko shouted as an Ice dagger shot at him, he put up a fire wall and they melted.

"If you want to believe that," she shouted. As he kicked at her, she did a flip over him and hit his side. She sent a wave at him, then used the water in the air, and it hit him full on. Zuko stood up soaking wet with a glare on his face. He shot a huge ball of flames at her, her eyes widened, she moved quickly and did an air-bending move, and the fire suddenly disappeared.

"You bended the air," Zuko gasped. The girl grinned at him and the air came out from under him and he fell onto his back on the floor. She walked over to him and knelt down next to him.

"I win," she whispered. Zuko sighed and nodded.

"I surrender honourably," he said, the girl nodded and gave him a hand up.

"Leila," she said, Zuko's eyebrows shot up.

"What?" he asked confused.

"My name. Leila, yours?" she asked. Zuko hesitated.

"Lee," Leila chuckled.

"No it's not," she said quietly, "It's Fire Lord Zuko," she said grinning at the expression on his face.

"How-" Zuko started, Leila put a hand up.

"How did I know?" she finished for him. He nodded. "I've seen your picture and sorry, but the way you fight and your scar kind of gave you away, don't worry I won't tell," she said before he asked her not to. "Plenty down here would see you dead," she added as she walked out the arena "Come get a drink with me, your friend can come too," Zuko hadn't noticed Toph had appeared by his side.

"She can bend air," Toph said, Zuko nodded. "We have to tell twinkle toes," she said and gave Zuko his shirt.

"She knows who I am and she invited us to get a drink with her," Zuko told Toph.

"I dunno…" Toph said, unsure.

"It can't hurt, besides we're both master benders," Zuko said.

"Ok, let's go Sparky," Toph said and walked in the direction of the bar, "Sup," Toph said as she sat down on a stool next to Leila.

"Hello Lady Toph Bei Fong, the blind bandit," Leila said calmly not looking up from her drink.

"HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?" Toph shouted.

"I just know these things sometimes," Leila said. "It's annoying sometimes, Zuko's coming over, and super I'll get the drinks," she said and turned to the bar tender. "Lu, three kingdom ices please?" she asked, "Lu," gave her a look.

"You're not allowed at the bar you know that," he said.

"Aw come on Lu please," Leila begged. Lu sighed.

"This once, but if Kiazi finds out you know what he'll do to you," Lu warned.

"What does he mean by that?" Zuko asked.

"Nothing," Leila said quickly.

"Don't lie," Toph said, Leila sighed.

"I'm imprisoned here," Leila said "After every fight we move, I don't want to be here, if I could leave I would."

"Why can't you leave?" Toph asked.

"You know the guy by the entrance," Leila asked, both nodded. "That's Kiazi. My father made a deal with Kiazi they would fight and if my father won Kiazi was supposed to leave our nation and never return. But if he lost Kiazi could have anything he wanted. My father lost, Kiazi could have anything and he chose me. I was only fourteen; I've been here ever since, five, nearly six years."

"Where are they?" Sokka asked pacing in front of Katara and Aang.

"We don't know," Katara said with her arms crossed.

"Let's go find them then," Aang suggested. Sokka looked deep in thought for a moment before he nodded.

"Good idea," he said.

"They went in this direction," Katara said and she led them to the wall.

"There's something on the other side," Aang said, he bended the wall out of the way and the three of them walked through.

"Time to go Sparky," Toph said suddenly.

"Oh, must you?" Leila asked sadly.

"Our friends are here," Toph explained Leila looked over at the entrance where Katara, Aang and Sokka came through.

"I'll bring them over," Leila said before she got up and did a couple of flips over to them.

Katara, Aang and Sokka were amazed when a woman looking in between Zuko and Sokka's age flipped over to them.

"Hello," Leila said, "Come with me," she looked at Kiazi who glared at her. The three followed her over to Toph and Zuko.

"SO this is where you two hid away," Sokka said looking around, "What is this place?" he asked.

"A fighting arena, where people come and try to beat the champion," Zuko explained.

"So it's kind of like where we found Toph?" Aang said. Leila nodded.

"Yep, except the champion is kept here and isn't allowed to leave," she said bitterly.

"You know the champion then?" Katara asked. Leila nodded.

"Yeah, I know 'em," she said. Toph suddenly got a grin on her face.

"Sugar Queen why don't you have a go?" She asked. Katara looked surprised for a moment before she nodded.

"Sure."

"I'll go sign you in," Zuko said and walked off.

"Good Luck," Toph said, "Zuko lost to them," She told them.

"HE WHAT?" Sokka, Aang and Katara shouted.

"He lost," Toph repeated.

"Yep, your signed in, someone will be over in a minute to take you do to the arena," Zuko explained ask he reappeared.

"You'll be fine," Leila said.

"Sorry, who are you?" Sokka asked,

"Leila," Leila said bowing to him southern water tribe style. Sokka bowed back surprise written all over his face.

"You're from the southern water tribe?" Aang asked. Leila shook her head.

"No, I'm earth kingdom," she said.

"Can you bend?" Katara asked excitedly. Leila smiled at her.

"Ah, you'll see," she said just as Kiazi came over.

"Time for the match," he said to Katara, he glared at Leila. Both girls nodded. Leila smiled at Katara.

"Good Luck," she said.

"Thanks, who's the champion?" Katara asked.

"You'll see," Leila said before she disappeared. Like Zuko, Katara was taken down to the arena and two huge buckets of water were placed in the arena.

_At least I'll be able to bend, _Katara thought. She got into a stance waiting for the opponent to show themselves. Suddenly something or someone landed in front of her. Katara took a step back and got a better look, it was Leila.

"You're the champion," She gasped, Leila nodded meekly.

"Sadly," she replied. Katara shot a water wave at her; Leila put her hands out and stopped it with a gust of wind. Katara looked up towards Aang who shook his head and looked at Leila. Katara looked back at Leila who was doing a complex move. Katara sent some ice daggers at her. Leila quickly made an ice wall that stopped them.

"You are a bender," Katara gasped.

"Why does everyone say that?" Leila sighed before she finished her complex move and knocked Katara to the ground. Leila went over to her. "Stay down and let me win unless you want to be stuck here forever," she whispered.

"What?" Katara asked surprised.

"If you win I get to leave but you have to stay, I'd rather stay here than let someone else," Leila explained solemnly. Katara nodded.

"YOU WIN," she shouted, the crowd cheered. Leila helped Katara up and they went back to the group. The first thing that happened when they got back to them, Sokka and Aang practically jumped on Leila.

"You can air-bend!" Aang said.

"Yes," Leila said.

"But you can water bend as well," Sokka said. Leila shrugged.

"I've always been able to, ever since I was a little girl, I could knock people over with a breath and when I got angry the water would become violent," She said. "I wish I could I'd leave and go back home, I miss my family," she sighed.

"You could come with us and we'll take you home," Katara said.

"What? Really, you don't mind?" she asked, the gang shook their heads. "Thank you, but how are we going to get me out of here?" She asked.

"Start a fire," Sokka said everyone looked over a Zuko who shrugged.

"Sure," He said, he quickly shot fire ball at some drapes. Everyone started to run out.

"Where's that girl? I want to make sure she doesn't escape!" They heard Kiazi shout. Leila gasped and ran towards the door; Kiazi however saw her and grabbed her.

"LET ME GO!" She shouted and struggled. She got one arm lose and elbowed him in the face. She saw the others by the door and she ran towards them. "BYE!" she shouted over the roar of the flames. She laughed and the six of them ran out of the arena. They ran through the town until they got to Appa in the out skirts.

"That's the Avatar's bison," she stated, she looked at each of them she then realised that she had made friends with the Avatar. She bowed to Aang.

"It's an honour to meet you," she said, Aang bowed back.

"You too, get on Appa. We'll be safe on him," he said, the two air benders jumped up on Appa whilst the others clambered on. Aang took the reins "Yip yip!" he said and Appa took off.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2: Learning History_

"This is amazing," Leila shouted and she started laughing. "Oh, I love the sky and the sea," she said flopping down onto her back. They were nearly at Ba Sing Se now and it was about three o'clock.

"So you can air-bend," Sokka said. It wasn't a question it was a fact.

"Yep, I found some air-bending scrolls in a market and used them," Leila explained.

"But you can water-bend; you bend like a master, where did you learn?" Katara asked. Leila smiled.

"I met a lot of people down in the arena, some were master water-benders, and they taught me."

"But you're earth-kingdom, not air nomad or water tribe," Aang said.

"Yep, why I can bend these two elements, I don't know," Leila sighed.

"So where are you from?" Zuko asked. The smile on Leila's face dropped instantly.

"I don't actually know, I just know it's somewhere in the earth-kingdom," she said sadly. "I remember it had walls, lots of them it was beautiful. Flowers, a lot of them too and a large garden," Leila reminisced with her brow creased and a sad look on her face.

"Any idea's anyone?" Toph asked. Everyone shook their heads.

"Sounds like Ba Sing Se," Sokka said.

"We could ask Uncle?" Zuko suggested. "He might know," Leila beamed at him.

"Thank you so much," she said.

Appa landed outside of the _'Jasmine Dragon'_. It was starting to go dark and the tea shop was shut for the evening.

"Uncle," Zuko said hugging the old man.

"It's good to see you," Iroh said. He gave everyone a hug but stopped when he got to Leila. He bowed to her and she bowed back. "You're not meant to be here," he said, everyone looked at Leila in shock.

"Excuse me?" Leila asked surprised.

"Uncle, do you know Leila?" Zuko asked. Iroh looked at Zuko with raised eye brows.

"You do too," he said. "You probably can't remember, but when you were little, she used to go to the palace and play with you."

"How could I go play in the fire nation palace when I'm just an ordinary girl?" Leila asked. Uncle Iroh laughed.

"You're not an ordinary girl, your father is the king of Ba Sing Se," Leila's eyes widened, before she passed out.

"Whoa," Sokka said as he caught her.

"Why couldn't she remember?" Toph asked.

"Kiazi must have done something to her," Katara said.

"Can we get inside she's kind of heavy," Sokka complained. Zuko rolled his eyes; he went over and took Leila of Sokka.

"She's light," he commented as Sokka huffed.

"We can put her on the spare bed," Iroh said.

"You don't have a spare bed," Zuko said.

"No she can have yours," Iroh said simply as they walked to his house.

"What?"

"She's a princess Zuko, she deserves it," Zuko shook his head as they walked up the steps to Uncle Iroh's house. He went to his room and gently deposited Leila on his bed. He walked out of his room and went to the living room where his Uncle was serving tea.

"Zuko, come get some Jasmine tea," Iroh called. Zuko rolled his eyes and sat down. Iroh handed him a cup of tea.

"Thank you Uncle," Zuko said.

"Kiazi must have whipped her memory so she couldn't remember her family," Sokka said.

"She could only remember parts like the garden and the walls, she told us about," Aang said.

"We'll take her to the king and explain everything," Iroh said, and it calmed them all down slightly.

"Can you tell us anything about her? I mean her past," Katara asked.

"Yes, I can. I'll start from when I first met her…

_Iroh was standing by the palace doors; today he was greeting the king of the earth-kingdom. The earth-king was coming to Sozin to negotiate a peace treaty between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom. The Earth-king was a tall man with Brown hair and green eyes; he wore expensive looking robes in different greens. Next to the Earth-king was his wife and queen. Earth-Queen Isabella, she was originally from the southern water tribe and on a diplomatic visit, Earth-King Kuei, Prince Kuei then, fell in love and the two were allowed to marry. The Queen wore dark green robes, which went with her dark brown hair and resting on her hair was a gold crown which was made up of gems, stones and golden leaves. _

_The two walked arm in arm towards Iroh. Iroh smiled at them and when they got to the doors he bowed to them._

"_It's an honor to have the Earth King and Queen in Sozin," he said. The Earth-King bowed back. _

"_It's an honor to see the incredible city of Sozin," he said. Iroh was about the say something when a small face peaked out from behind the Earth-Kings robes. Iroh eyes widen slightly surprised. Queen Isabella noticed and looked down._

"_Leila, no messing around now," she scolded. A young girl came out from behind the Earth-King; She stood in between the two with her head bowed and her hands together. _

"_Princess Leila, I presume," Iroh said, the little girl looked up at her name. _

"_Yes sir," she said in a small but strong voice. The girl looked about seven, she had sweet green eyes and honey coloured hair. She wore green robes too like her parents. Except hers were a light green nearly yellow. She had a small crown on her head which was made up of gold and silver leaves. She turned her head slightly and looked behind her. "Rai, you can stop hiding," she said a little boy appeared next to her moments later; he had a smile on his face._

"_Prince Rai," he said, he looked to be about nine nearly ten. He bowed and Iroh bowed back._

"_Pleasure, please come this way your majesties," he said and walked through the doors. "I'll take you to your rooms then I'll have you given a tour of the palace," _

_On their way to the rooms they past Princess Ursa's garden which had the turtleducks in the pond, sitting by the pond was Zuko, he was looking into the water. He looked up at them when he heard footsteps._

"_Zuko, come greet our guests," Iroh called, Zuko got up and went over to them, he bowed to them. _

"_I'm Prince Zuko, fourth in line for the golden dragon throne," he said. _

"_This is King Kuei, Queen Isabella, Prince Rai and Princess Leila they are from the Earth-kingdom," Iroh explained "They are here to discuss a peace treaty with your grandfather, the Fire Lord." _

"_It's lovely to meet you," Queen Isabella said, smiling at the small boy. "I'm sure, Leila and Rai will play with you while we're here," she added. _

"_Thank you very much, your majesty. If you'll excuse me I have to go and finish my studies," Zuko said before he ran off. Leila watched him go with great interest._

"_He's very well mannered," King Kuei noted. "If only you could be better mannered…" he said looking down at his son. Rai just smiled at him._

"_Thank you father," he said cheekily. _

"_We must carry on," Iroh said. He took them to their rooms and made sure if they needed anything that they could ask. He then left then to go to the pre-meeting. _

"I'm afraid I can't tell you much more," Iroh said sadly as he sipped his tea.

"You might not be able to but I can," a voice came from behind them. They all turned to see Leila gripping the door frame to hold herself up.

"You should be in bed," Iroh said. Leila smiled at him.

"No, it's alright, I'll have a cup of that Jasmine tea if you don't mind, it's my favourite," she said as she sat down next to Iroh, he gave her the cup and she took a sip and smiled happily. "Brilliant," she concluded, "I'll carry on the story…"

_Leila sat down on her bed which was on the opposite side of the room from her brothers. She had finished unpacking and was waiting for her brother to finish so they could explore the palace. _

"_Are you done yet?" she asked, Rai was still unpacking. _

"_Nearly, goodness Lay wait a couple more minutes," he said as he put his clothes in the cupboard. Leila sat on her bed and looked around the room. It was full of red and gold, the floor was dark wood and the walls had red silk over them. The windows had gold Silk drapes lining them. The view from the window was beautiful, you could see the whole city, it was full of people and there was a market going on that day. "Okay, I'm done," he said as he shut his cupboard. Leila smiled at him and grabbed his hand. _

"_We'll go back to that beautiful garden," she said._

"_Are you sure?" Rai asked._

"_Come on Rai, we could practice our bending," Leila suggested._

"_Okay, because you know that your water can't beat my earth," he said smugly. The two were walking down a corridor when they ran into three girls. The girls were in a kind of triangle formation with one in front and the other two flanking her. _

"_Who are you?" The front on asked in a snotty voice. Leila and Rai bowed to the three._

"_Prince and Princess, Rai and Leila from the earth-kingdom," Rai said. The girl's eyes widened and they quickly bowed. _

"_I'm Fire Princess Azula," the front one said, she was dressed in a red and black kimono that looked a lot like armour. The one to her right wore robes coloured a deep red and looked to be extremely bored, though the one on her left looked to be extremely happy and excited. She was wearing a soft pink. "This is Mai and Ty Lee," she said motioning to the two girls. "And this is Zuzu," she said in a baby voice as she looked over the siblings shoulders. The two turned around to see Prince Zuko walking towards them. _

"_Azula," he said crossly, "Don't call me that!" _

"_We were wondering if we could go back to that beautiful garden, it looks lovely," Leila said softly, Zuko's expression softened as he looked at the girl about his age._

"_Sure I'll take you and your brother," he said, "Azula, Mai, Ty Lee," he said before the two boys and the girl walked off. "You want to stay away from Azula," he warned, "She's no good, always teasing people," he muttered._

"_Thank you," Rai said. _

"_Its fine, my mother might be in the garden, I think you'd like her," Zuko said and he was right, sitting by the pond was a beautiful woman in red and black robes, she had straight long black hair and a thin face she looked very regal. She looked up at them and smiled, she had lovely golden eyes which gave of a sense of kindness and compassion. _

"_Hello Zuko and who are these two?" she said, he voice was soft and kind as well. _

"_They are the Earth-king and Queen's son and Daughter, Prince Rai and Princess Leila," Zuko told her. _

"_It's lovely to meet you two," she said "Please come sit," she gestured for them to join her. The three of them did and they felt happy, safe, and calm and collected. "I designed this garden," she told them "It works with the balance of the earth; it's a very good place to think." _

"_It's very beautiful," Leila said. _

"_Thank you very much, Leila," Ursa said._

"_Can either of you bend?" Zuko asked excitedly. _

"_Yes, I can bend earth and Leila can bend water," Rai told them. _

"_Impressive, why don't you give us a demonstration," Ursa said. Rai stood up and stopped the ground and a piece of earth flew up from the ground, he kicked and it few a couple of meters away from him. He did a quick motion with his hand and it went back into the earth. "That was lovely," Ursa applauded "What about you Leila?" Leila stood up. "Feel free to use the water from the pond" Ursa told her. Leila got a stream of water out of the pond and began dancing around; the water formed lots of different shapes and swirled around her. She finished with a ball of water in hand she directed it back into the pond. "Very nice as well, Zuko you show them a bit of what you can do," Ursa encouraged. Zuko nodded ad stood up and Rai and Leila sat down he did some kicks and punches sending flames around. Leila gasped in amazement. He finished, looking slightly tired. _

"_Leila, Rai," A voice called. Leila turned round to see her mother standing at the entrance to the garden._

"_Mother!" Leila called._

"_Are you allowed to be in here?" Isabella asked. Ursa stood up and smiled._

"_It's alright with me," she said. Isabella gasped lightly and bowed._

"_So sorry, Princess Ursa," she apologised. _

"_It's fine, you have two amazing benders," Ursa complimented. _

"_Thank you, your son looked very good as well," Isabella said smiling at Zuko._

"_Thank you, your majesty," he said bowing._

"_Please, Isabella," she said_

"_Yes your maj- Isabella," he said. Isabella laughed. _

"_I was coming to say it's time for lunch," she said._

"_We'll join you," Ursa said standing up. _

"_That will be welcome," Isabella said smiling. _

"We had lunch, but I can't remember much more, I just know though that Azula wasn't very nice," Leila said. Everyone was looking at her.

"How can you remember that so vividly?" Sokka asked. Leila shrugged.

"No Idea," she said.

"I thought I'd seen you before," Zuko said "It's because I'd met you back home," Leila laughed.

"Looks like it, flame boy," she said.

"Did you…" Sokka started.

"Just say…" Aang carried on.

"Flame boy?" They all finished. Leila looked confused and deep in though.

"Yeah, I remember a memory slightly me calling Zuko it," she said.

"Yeah, it's what you used to call me," Zuko said.

"How's Mai and Ty Lee?" Leila asked, everyone looked at each other.

"Ty Lee's joined the Kyoshi warriors and Mai…" Sokka started but trailed off and everyone looked at Zuko. Zuko looked down and cleared his throat nervously.

"Mai and I broke up, I haven't seen her in about a month," Zuko said.

"Oh, sorry about that," Katara said.

"It's fine honestly, she was starting to depress me. Everyone round the palace are all happy she's gone; she made that whole place sad, dark and depressed…" He vented.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Leila said "I hope you're happy though," Zuko looked at her.

"Yeah, I'm happy," he said smiling at her.

"That's good," she said.

"So, are we going to the earth-king or not?" Toph asked standing up.

"I will go with you, the Earth-king is partial to my tea," Iroh smiled everyone just laughed. Leila slowly stood up.

"Let's get this over with," she said.

"Alright let's go, we can get Appa to take us," Aang said. They all piled into Appa and set of towards the palace. Leila was wringing her hands nervously, Katara noticed.

"Why are you so nervous? You weren't like that in the ring," she said, Leila looked at her.

"That's different, in the ring I know what I can do and who I am, and coming here has changed all that, it's a big difference."

"Hey, we'll look after you we're your friends," Katara said, putting a comforting arm on Leila's shoulder.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: If I owned A:TLA, this would be on the TV right this moment. Is it? No. So all you lawyers out there can sue someone else. Hmph! **

**AN: Thanks for the reviews guys, it means I can write more for you! And then you can enjoy it! I would like some more before I update again, so get reviewing! Sorry for not updating in so long, busy times equals very little time for writing Fanfiction, and multiple fanfics on the go means that I have to zoom around each one and write for them in turn :S Now… ENJOY!**

_Chapter Three: Nobody's Perfect_

Appa landed at the start of the road leading up to the palace steps. Each of them jumped off while Aang asked a man if there was somewhere Appa could be looked after, he ended up taking the avatar's bison to the stables.

"Thank you!" Aang shouted over his shoulder, feeling slightly guilty and like he was taking advantage of the man's kindness. He had had time to get used to this type of thing for years now, but it still came unnaturally to him occasionally.

"My pleasure, Avatar!"

They walked the length of the road and reached the steps at the end, then walked up and asked if it was possible to see the Earth King.

"I'm sorry Avatar, but the Earth King is currently engaged in other business."

"But sir," Katara pleaded, "It's really important."

"I suppose you could see him," said the man, "But you will have to apologise for interrupting him."

They walked through into the entrance hall, "This way," Toph instructed, and led them through the maze of rooms and passages until finally they reached a colossal set of gold doors, "We're here," she told them.

"I think you should do the honours," Zuko said, walking up to Leila.

"Right," She muttered.

"You can do it," Zuko put a hand on her shoulder, she looked at him and gave a smile of thanks, he smiled back.

Leila took a deep breath, and turned to Toph, "You're sure they're in there?"

"Absolutely."

Leila turned again and pushed open the massive doors, but instead of looking to find her family, she gazed in awe at the beautiful architecture.

The walls were green, a lovely emerald, with beautiful patterns of gold and silver leaves lining them. Going around the walls of the room was a balcony, held up by pillars with again gold and silver leaves decorating them. The floor was the same shade of green as the walls, and was slippery and slidey. However, the majority of it was covered by a large rug. Leading up to the throne-

Where the Earth King sat.

"Rai, I cannot tolerate this kind of behaviour! Especially from you!" he shouted at the young man in front of him.

"But father, I did nothing wrong!"

"You deliberately disobeyed my orders!"

"Your 'orders' were to stay inside and do something!"

"Exactly! I don't understand why you could not just do what you are told for once!"

"Because I want some freedom!" Rai shouted at the Earth King.

"Look, Rai," the Earth King said, lowering his voice, "Having the prince running around with the Kiazi Gang isn't right, it looks horrific, as if I can't control you!"

"You can't control me father! I need to have some time to myself for once, where I can be a normal person! Not this uprising prince that everybody is talking about!"

Leila looked at the Gaang, "I can't believe it…"

"Leila what's the matter?" Katara asked.

"The Kiazi Gang… they... they were a group of thugs, bandits. Years ago, they terrorised the streets of Ba Sing Sei, and worked for the person, Kiazi, who captured me. My brother, Rai… it sounds like he's joined them."

"I don't know about that…" Toph said uneasy, again.

"What do you mean?"

"As we were walking here, I was sensing the heart rates in the throne room, one of them-supposedly your brother's- got faster for a split second, I think it was as he-"

"Keui! Rai! Stop it this instance!" shouted the normally soft but now harsh voice of Queen Isabella, "You have guests!"

The pair turned to see the Gaang, but couldn't see Leila, as she was behind Katara and Zuko, "You guys go in," she said, "I think I need a minute…"

The Gaang walked in, the doors shutting behind them.

"Avatar! My friends! What brings you here in these happy times?" The King exclaimed, shooting a look at Rai which said 'we'll talk about this later…' He got down off the throne, "Please, come forward, you are always welcome guests."

"King Keui, it is an honour, again." Aang bowed.

"The honour is mine, but, why have you come?"

"We're sorry for disturbing you your majesty," Katara started.

"But we've got a visitor for you." Zuko finished.

"Fire Lord Zuko, they must be of the upmost importance, of royal blood maybe?" said the King, bowing.

Toph chuckled, "You could say that."

A puzzled look came over the King's face as the door opened to reveal, in all its glory, nothingness. Leila was gone.

"Where are they?" the King asked.

"Give me just one moment your majesty." Zuko ran out of the throne room and into the hallway, he looked at a guard.

"She went that way." The guard said, pointing. Zuko nodded, and ran on until he reached another set of gold doors. Tentatively, he opened them, revealing another hallway, with a set of doors at the end. Instead of running, he walked the length of the hallway, so Leila couldn't hear him coming and reached a small set of doors at the end.

He quickly slid in and was silently closing the doors behind him when he felt the cold water on his neck, "If you want to live, you won't move."

"Leila, it's me." Zuko whispered.

"Zuko?" her expression turned to confusion for a split second as she pulled away, then it hardened, "Why are you here?"

Zuko straightened his robes, "I came to find you."

"Why? I can tell I don't belong in this family anymore."

"Leila," Zuko laughed, sitting down on a nearby bed, "You may not be the person you were five years ago, but you're better, stronger. You can bend amazingly, heck, you can bend two elements, not to mention one of them is air."

"So? What if they don't love this me, what if all they wanted was this elegant, pitiful, frail, little girl? I'm not a royal anymore," She sat down next to him, "Besides, I'm nervous. Do you know what it's like to be waiting for so long, years even, to go back to your family, be accepted and loved, and to be someone again, not just 'girl' or 'boy'."

Zuko looked down at her with pitiful eyes, and Leila put her hand to her mouth, "Zuko, I'm so sorry, I forgot…"

"It's ok," he said, standing up, "Nobody's perfect."

"Certainly not me..."

"Leila," Zuko took her hand, "Stop doubting yourself."

Leila looked into his eyes, they looked golden._ Amber maybe. _She thought to herself._ Definitely full of emotions… bottled up, with no one to let them out on. Wow, we have a lot in common._

"Zuko-" He put a finger to her mouth and gazed into Leila's eyes for a minute. _So green_. He thought._ So beautiful… wait what?_

"We should go back," he said, pulling away.

"Yeah," Leila replied, slightly disappointed.

They walked back down to the doors and again, they were faced with the very same situation they had been a minute ago. Leila turned to Zuko, "You can do this," he encouraged and Leila pushed the doors open.

Heads turned as the fire lord and the long lost princess walked into the throne room, almost hand in hand Zuko led Leila up to the Earth king.

Leila bowed, a traditional earth kingdom bow, letting her hair cover her face as she came to a halt before her father. Her mother walked up and sat on the throne next to him, completely unaware that their daughter was stood before them.

"Who are you?" asked Queen Isabella, calmly.

Leila looked up, and her parents gave a short gasp as the hair fell from her face, "I'm Leila, your daughter."

* * *

A pin drop could be heard as no one spoke, tension rose at 100mph until it cracked, straight down the middle.

"Leila, is that really you?" Isabella rose from her seat once more and stepped down off the throne to meet the girl stood before her, "Look up, child." Leila met eyes with her mother for a moment, there was hesitation, but they immediately pulled each other into a hug.

**Dontcha just LOVE cliff hangers? Oh this is gonna be a long hard road for more people other than the characters in the story! :D  
I really appreciate the reviews guys! And I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, but times have been hard, and I've been very busy. I promise I'm gonna try update more regularly on Fanfiction FULL stop! So if you have tabs on any of my other stories, I'm trying to update them too. Thanks for the reviews again guys! Hey, maybe if you give me some right now, I'll update quicker ;)  
~Kyoshixx**


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